Local Waters

[Smithy]

This has been what has going on since minus the couple of game comps and my trip to Breaksea in the Stabi. Lots of wind and a lot of days turned into half days and morning trips not to mention all the cancellations.

Noosa Yachties Freeby

November 27th, 2009 As part of Riverfest at Noosa, I donate a free trip to the Noosa Yachties Fishing Club who run the event for a lucky door prize. This year it happened to be won by a Noosa Yachties member. Friday looked like a good day to go out before the northerly wind got up so we arranged to meet at the Thomas St boat ramp Noosaville. We crossed the bar on the run-out tide but the Noosa bar is pretty good at the moment. We headed to Chardons Reef and loaded up on live bait. It was very easy to jig for once. We ran them back to Sunshine Reef and commenced slow trolling for mackerel. Still nothing yet. This time last year I was absolutely smashing them. I hope they turn up soon. I heard about one getting caught on the Gneerings Friday and lots of bait there. I also heard about a 22kg yellowfin tuna caught just a bit wider by one of my ex clients.

We tried the Jew Shoal on the way home and had a look at Halls Reef in case something was going on there. All in all very quiet at the moment.



Mark Menzell Full Day Trip

November 21st, 2009 Mark booked me in again with his regular crew of Bruce and a new guy who's name escapes me.

We made live bait easily enough in a couple of spots heading out. It was reasonable rough and we knew what we were getting ourselves in for but Mark was desperate to head out as it had been a couple of months. I was down to 14knots or so and this time of year I put the high speed lead head skirts out if I am doing less than 18knots with the Stabicraft.

We did a couple of laps of the good spot where I had pulled some mahi mahi, kingfish and wahoo the trip before but it wasn't to be. I also did a couple of figure of 8s on the new FAD raising a few mahi mahi but getting no bites. We tried for kingfish on the livies but they weren't interested in a couple of spots.

We tried deadbaits going for pearl perch and they bit well for a few drifts. I am not sure what happened after that but they shut right down in the northerly. Once we made the shift to cut bait they were chewing really good and we thought we were onto them as the show was good but they had lock jaw.

We headed to another kingfish spot and sure enought the small ones were on the job on soft plastics with five or so following each other up when hooked. Bruce managed to snag a GT (great trevally) doing this as well and then it was time to go home.



Lyle Half Day Trip

November 20th, 2009 Lyle was back again this time with his girlfriend Racheal and next door neighbour Todd. Live bait was easy enough to catch again. Some days it is a real struggle. We got to the fishing spot and put the lures out. First pass and it looked good but no action then a bit wide of the spot Lyle hooked up to this mahi mahi.



We put the lures straight out and Todd was up straight away with this wahoo.



It went quiet after that even though there were good shows on the sounder. We trolled to the FAD and saw mahi mahi but couldn't get them to bite. Back to the bait shows again and nothing yet again. It was frustrating so we started dropping livies, plastics and jigs down. This liviened the kingies up and we landed a legal one and a few little guys. When one was hooked a whole school would come up but we weren't good enough to hook any of the followers. After that it was time to head home. Here is Racheal hooked up on a soft plastic and the result.






Stephen Full Day Trip

November 19th, 2009 Stephen was visiting his daughter at Currimundi and he was over from England during the first 6 months of his retirement. He is a trout fisherman over their so his daughter shouted him a day out for his 60th birthday which was today.
We jigged live bait easily enough and had schools of bonito swimming around on the surface harrassing the pillies. We headed to a spot I had heard had some wahoo on it but it wasn't to be. Instead we opened the account with a rainbow runner. A reasonably rare capture. Next up was a mahi mahi and then we started a procession of mack tuna and yellowtail kingfish.
We drove away from them to try for a new species and headed to the FAD. Sure enough the mahi mahi were there again but we couldn't get them to bite. Back to the hotspot and into the kingies again to finish off the day. It was all pretty eye opening for Stephen to be sea fishing then catching the species that we did and the sizes we did compared to the tiny trout he was used too. All in all a great day for his birthday with good weather, good fishing and then he was off to dinner with the family that night to celebrate.

Dave 3/4 Day Trip

November 18th, 2009
Dave booked me again with Mitch and Mitch's dad Ron. There was a bit of soft plastics bite going and with a messy sea I decided that was our best bet. Dave did well scoring two good size grass emperor and Ron also got an ok snapper. Mitch wasn't having much luck getting the bite then getting snipped off by tailor, mackerel or pike. Eventually he hooked up to a screamer which would have been a big snapper for sure but his luck just wasn't in for the day. After that we went chasing live bait in the big swell conditions then had a fish for cobia. They didn't want to play the game so we finished the day off on some close reef going for whatever but plagued by heaps of undersize things and lancers and whiptails. Ususually you can sit through the rubbish and pull the odd grassy or parrot but it wasn't to be. The undersize red emperor putting up a good account of themselves though.

Shane Morning Snapper Trip

November 7th, 2009 Shane had booked in for a full day but with the weather the way it was forecast our only option was a morning snapper trip. As it transpired Shane got pretty seasick so it was better we run him back in than sit it out in the conditions. Things looked promising off the bat with a couple of squire but it didn't really live up to the trip before.



Mark Morning Snapper Trip

November 5th, 2009 Mark had booked in for a full day but with the weather the way it was forecast our only option was a morning snapper trip yet again. This proved a good move and the fish were on. Mark mastered it pretty quick but the other boys got some as well, more undersize anyway. They also ended up with a bonus grass sweetlip. Made a change for Mark from fishing off Southern NSW as he is based at Canberra.




Stoddards Building Supplies 1/2 Day

November 4th, 2009 Stoddards put on a day for Michael Pollard of Michael Pollard Homes Toowoomba. Even though the weather forecast was terrible the company had paid for the trip and accomodation so wanted to go at all costs. Joining Michael were BJ and Bill from Stoddards. That really only left me the option of heading out of Noosa with strong NWers forecast and nothing going on locally at Mooloolaba in close. We headed out and had a try for mackerel. Still none around so we went bottom fishing. The action was pretty good on just undersize brown maori cod and baby red emperor. Somewhere along the way Mick scratched up a parrot fish and by then the wind was ridiculous so we headed in.

Jim Full Day Trip

November 3rd, 2009 Jim Brown one of my regular customers booked in a full day with himself and Luke from Laser Electrical. It was a rough but alway fun day with Jim aboard. We didn't set any records but still scratched up a good feed. We had a look at the FAD but couldn't pull any mahi mahi off it. Live bait was reasonably hard to get but the kingies seem to be going off in the spots I fished. We still ended up with a few but cut bait proved better. The pearlies bit well on it and the bar cod was a nice surprise from that depth of water though I have caught a couple even shallower.
Jim and the standard live bait caught 7kg kingy.



The catch.



It was a rough trip home but the Stabi handled it well.



Craig Morris Half Day Trip

November 2nd, 2009 Craig was visiting from NZ and wanted to check out some of our fishing. Also along with him were his son and his son's girlfriend. We started out soft plasticing but it wasn't really happening. We went chasing live baits and got a few. We headed off Caloundra and started bottom fishing. The show looked ok and sure enough Craig was onto a nice Gold Spot Estuary Cod. We kept it as they are hard to release and a short while later his son hooked another, this time smaller, but also on the livey. This one we successfully released on the shot release weight. We ran back in in great conditions.



Justin and Clair Half Day Trip

November 1st, 2009 It just didn't happen today on the troll. On the Saturday a few wahoo and yellowtail kingfish were caught by each boat trolling but amongst the boats I was trolling beside on the Sunday only a handful of kings were caught and only one wahoo.



Tony Half Day Trip

October 31st, 2009 Tony had booked me in and we decided to go for a troll. We got some livebait and ran them back into the mackerel grounds. Nothing in there so we put the skirts and minnows out for an early season mahi mahi, wahoo or marlin but it wasn't to be.



Gary Barker His Boat Half Day

October 30th, 2009 Today I went out on Gary's Arvor to give him some pointers on reef fishing. He is a troller but his son wants to reef fish all the time and they aren't doing much good. I showed him how to soft plastic and how to anchor offshore but conditions were pretty uncomfortable. We came back in and tied up to the pontoon and went through knots and rigs. About then the Police swarmed all over the trawler docks giving us something to watch for a few hours. On the news they said 70 customs and police officers were involved. There was certainly a lot over that side of the river including sniffer dogs.

[gr hilly]

dont forget the curry
hilly